Agriculture, nutrition and gender in India

The South Asian region has one of the highest rates of child and maternal undernutrition in the world. Undernutrition is widespread and persistent even in India despite its relatively strong economic performance and is particularly high in rural areas and among those in agriculture based livelihoods. Though agriculture has the enormous potential to contribute to improvements in undernutrition, the evidence so far in the Indian context demonstrates weak linkages between agriculture and nutrition . This research brief summarises the key findings from the different studies focusing on women’s agency and nutrition undertaken by LANSA in India.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

Agriculture-nutrition linkages and child undernutrition in India

The South Asian region and in particular India, has one of the highest rates of child undernutrition in the world, and is home to around 40 per cent of the global total of children who are stunted. Child stunting has been shown to have severe lifelong economic, health, and cognitive disadvantages and costs. Despite improvements in some states in recent years, the levels continue to be high. Understanding the reasons for the high prevalence of child undernutrition in India in the face of the relatively strong economic performance has emerged as an important research topic and is an area of focus of LANSA’s research in the region. Under the research theme, ‘How enabling is the wider context in linking agriculture and food systems to other determinants of nutritional status?’, LANSA research in India focuses on understanding the barriers and facilitators to nutrition-sensitive agricultural development in the country. The analyses and empirical work on the available large secondary datasets from India are expected to elaborate on the pathways that connect agriculture and nutrition and the type and degree of interaction with other non-food drivers. This research brief summarises the key findings from some of the studies undertaken by LANSA partners, on agriculture-nutrition linkages and child undernutrition in India.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC) 2016

The National Policy for Children 2013 adopted by the Government of India in April 2013, adheres to the Constitutional mandate and guiding principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). It identifies rights of children under four key priority areas, viz. Survival, Health and Nutrition, Education and Development, Protection, and Participation. This policy Brief looks at the Draft National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC) Key Priority Area 1: Survival, Health and Nutrition, making policy recommendations.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

Women in Agriculture and Nutrition in India

Policy debates around agriculture and nutrition and the crucial role of women needs to be informed by evidence that research programmes like LANSA generate. The available evidence recommends the recognition of women’s roles in agriculture and nutrition. This Policy Brief looks at the following focus polices and programmes: Draft National Policy for Women 2016; National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001; Supplementary Nutrition Programme under ICDS; National Nutrition Policy 1993; National Food Security Act 2013; National Policy for Farmers 2007.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

Importance of WASH and Healthcare for enabling Agriculture-Nutrition linkages in India

State and district level studies linking child undernutrition to agricultural prosperity and provisioning of public services highlight the importance of public health provisioning such as sanitation, vaccination and healthcare facilities in rural areas, public provisioning for maternal health and women’s education as well as social provisioning of food. This policy brief discusses the following focus polices and programmes: National Health Mission; Swachh Bharat Abhiyan 2014; Draft National Policy for Women 2016; Draft National Plan of Action for Children 2016; National Food Security Act 2013; National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

Leveraging Agriculture for Child and Adolescent Nutrition in India

Ensuring access and safety of food to meet the nutritional requirements of proteins, calories and micronutrients in infancy and childhood from six months of age needs to be a priority in India. This Policy Brief looks at the following focus polices and programmes: Supplementary Nutrition Programme under ICDS; Mid-Day Meal Scheme; National Nutrition Policy 1993; Draft National Plan of Action for Children 2016; National Food Security Act 2013.Department for International Development (DFID)UKAI

Fatigue response evaluation of stainless steel SS 304 L(N) and SS 316 L(N) through cyclic ball indentation studies

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of fatigue response of stainless steel SS 304 L(N) and SS 316 L(N) using cyclic ball indentation test method. A Tungsten Carbide (WC) spherical ball of 1.57 mm diameter is used for applying compression-compression fatigue cycling on the test specimen having a nominal thickness of 5 mm; the displacement response is monitored as a function of every cycle of loading. The study focused on cases where the stainless steel specimens were welded by two different welding processes – Activated flux TIG welding and conventional multi-pass TIG welding. Fatigue response was monitored at locations of weld zone, heat affected zone (HAZ) and base metal to identify the effect of microstructure variation on fatigue response. It is observed that there is a steady increase in depth of penetration of the spherical indenter due to fatigue cycling; however, after a number of cycles, there is a sudden increase in depth of penetration which indicates the failure of the material beneath the indenter. The specimens after cyclic ball indentation were examined using a scanning electron microscope and one could observe the presence of secondary cracking in the penetrated region of the specimen

LOCV calculation for Beta-stable matter at finite temperature

The method of lowest-order constrained variational, which predicts reasonably the nuclear matter semi-empirical data is used to calculate the equation of state of beta-stable matter at finite temperature. The Reid soft-core with and without the N-$\Delta$ interactions which fits the N-N scattering data as well as the $UV_{14}$ potential plus the three-nucleon interaction are considered in the nuclear many-body Hamiltonian. The electron and muon are treated relativistically in the total Hamiltonian at given temperature, to make the fluid electrically neutral and stable against beta decay. The calculation is performed for a wide range of baryon density and temperature which are of interest in the astrophysics. The free energy, entropy, proton abundance, etc. of nuclear beta-stable matter are calculated. It is shown that by increasing the temperature, the maximum proton abundance is pushed to the lower density while the maximum itself increases as we increase the temperature. The proton fraction is not enough to see any gas-liquid phase transition. Finally we get an overall agreement with other many-body techniques, which are available only at zero temperature.Comment: LaTex, 20 page

Leveraging agriculture for nutrition in South Asia: What do we know, and what have we learned?

Despite significant improvements over recent decades, rates of undernutrition remain high in South Asia, with adverse impacts on morbidity and mortality. Overweight/obesity, among children and adults, is now an additional and major public health concern. While agriculture has the potential to improve nutrition through several pathways, this potential is currently not being realised in the region. The Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia (LANSA) research consortium (2012–2018) set out to improve understanding about how agriculture and related food policies and programs in South Asia (specifically in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan) can be better conceptualised and implemented in order to enhance impacts on nutrition outcomes, especially those of young children and adolescent girls. This paper provides a snapshot of the agriculture-nutrition nexus in the region, outlines the pathways through which agriculture can influence nutrition outcomes, elaborates on the objectives of the LANSA research consortium within this context, and highlights the core findings of the six papers that form the body of this Special Issue. The paper ends with five key lessons that have emerged from this research, during this decade